How Net Neutrality Might Affect Your Internet Usage

by Matt Brunken

Are you excited for slower Internet speeds and higher monthly bills? Well, that’s what many are fearing after the repeal of net neutrality in December. Net neutrality has been in the news quite a bit recently, but what exactly is it?

Net neutrality is a set of rules that were in place which were supposed to provide a more open and free Internet. This set of rules prevented Internet service providers (ISP’s) such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and many others from altering Internet speeds or tampering with the transferring of data. Without these rules, ISP’s could do what they wanted with your Internet speeds, and could be biased for or against certain companies. For example, if one of these providers wanted you to pay more to access Wikipedia or Facebook, they could slow your Internet speeds down until you paid a fee that gave you full access to these websites and applications.

According to InternetSociety.org, net neutrality is, “a complex and controversial topic and is an important part of a free and open Internet. Enabling access, choice, and transparency of Internet offerings empowers users to benefit from full access to services, applications, and content available on the Internet.”

Despite over 2.5 million signatures on a Change.org petition addressed to the FCC, net neutrality was repealed on December 14, 2017 in a 3-2 vote. Chairman Ajit Pai and the two Republican Commissioners voted for the repeal and the two Democratic Commissioners voted against the repeal. Ajit Pai, the one leading the vote for repealing net neutrality, believes that in order to have competitive business for Internet providers, these laws need to be removed.

In an interview with PBS, Ajit Pai said, “But when I meet with consumers — and I have met with folks from Kalamazoo, Michigan, down to Carthage, Mississippi, from Barrow, Alaska, to Diller, Nebraska, what they tell me is that the concern is not that their Internet service provider is blocking lawful traffic or doing something like that. It’s that they want more competition. They want better, faster and cheaper Internet.”

Regarding the vote on December 14, 2017, the Washington Post said, “Federal regulators voted Thursday to allow Internet providers to speed up service for websites they favor — and block or slow down others — in a decision repealing landmark Obama-era regulations overseeing broadband companies such as AT&T and Verizon.”

In recent news, however, some people are still fighting against the FCC in an effort to enforce the net neutrality rules that they believe will ensure a free and open Internet. State legislatures have since gotten involved and are proposing new laws.

  “Lawmakers in at least six states, including California and New York, have introduced bills in recent weeks that would forbid Internet providers to block or slow down sites or online services,” the New York Times said in an online article from earlier this month. Other states are also leaning towards pushing for similar actions.

According to the New York Times, the Senate is also reacting by accumulating supporters for a vote that would overturn the decision made by the FCC. The Democratic caucus has all forty-nine members agreeing to overturn the action, including one Republican. They would need at least one more Republican senator to agree as fifty-one votes are required for a majority. However, this vote would not ensure that the decision would be overturned, as the House of Representatives would also need to come to a similar conclusion. However, this is unlikely because Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, could deny the vote and they would need to get 218 signatures to proceed.

   Net neutrality could affect people differently depending on their situation. It could hurt schools that rely on open source websites, families that access the Internet on a daily basis, or small businesses including Internet startups. The repealed laws also would allow ISP’s more freedom, which they could use to improve speeds, or which they could abuse to make you pay more for to access to certain websites and other data.